KTM Factory rider Marc Coma picked up victory in Stage Two of the Dos Sertoes Rally on Saturday, taking a slim winning margin ahead of old rival Cyril Despres on Day Three of this long event. Coma, who is chasing more points in his quest to retain his World Cross Country Rally Championship also assumes the overall lead, but with many kilometers of hard riding.
Coma was second out in the stage after Paolo Goncalves of Portugal, the winner of the opening stage. He slipped past Goncalves at the 80 km mark when he took advantage of a navigation error by the Portuguese rider and then went on to take the win. Coma said he was happy with the outcome, given that the rally was proving technically challenging.
Marc Coma: "Winning today's stage is a good sign because it was long and complicated. It was very similar to yesterday’s stage. It was dusty and there was very little grip. Tomorrow will be much the same but most of all it will be important not to make any mistakes. We must be consistent and follow the same policy as this race is very long. "
It was also a good day all round for KTM factory riders with Coma’s teammates Ruben Faria of Portugal and Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski finishing 4-5 in the stage, positions they also hold in the overall standings. All three KTM factory riders are on the Dakar-winning KTM 450 Rally bike
The stage took riders from Pirenopolis to Uruacu over a total distance of 414 km, 287 km of which was timed special. Coma now has a one minute 56.7 advantage overall over second placed Paolo Goncalves of Portugal with Despres hovering at just two minutes 04.6 behind.
On Sunday riders tackle 289 km, of which 233 km is the timed section. The total rally distance is over 4100 km taking in a massive loop and eight cities in the states of Goias and Tocantins.
Rally Dos Sertoes
Stage Two Results (unofficial)
(From total 414 km, timed special 287 km)
1, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM 3 hours 50.24
2, Cyril Despres, France, Yamaha 3:51.29
3, Paolo Goncalves, Portugal, Speed Brain 3:53.14
4, Ruben Faria, Portugal, KTM, 3:58.38
5, Kuba Przygonski, Poland, KTM, 3:35.45
6, Ike Klaumann, Brazil, Honda, 4:00.31
7, Dario Julio, Brazil, Honda, 4:03.41
8, Michael Metge, France, Yamaha, 4:04.18
9, Deni Nascimento, Brazil, KTM, 4:05.56
10, Ramon Scalotti, Brazil, Kwasaki, 4:09.49
Overall Results after Stage 2 (unofficial)
1, Coma, 5 hours 01.13
2, Goncalves, at 1 minute 56.7
3, Despres at 2:04.6
4, Faria at 9:57.4
5, Przygonski at 13:03.8
